Dorothy Lorraine Mcgee

Dorothy McGee , age 93, passed away on July 7, 2015 at the Hearthstone Cottage Retirement Facility in Ellensburg Washington with son Ron at her side.
Dorothy Lorraine McGee was born May 7, 1922 on a farm at Walhalla, North Dakota to William Lavester ( Vester ) Rice and Helen Evelyn Rice. Dorothy, an only child, spent most of her youth on a farm near Selby, South Dakota where she attended a one room school house with the neighboring farm kids. This experience planted the seeds for a lifetime love of reading.
In 1936, the Rice family moved west to escape the drought conditions in the center of the country, and ended up in Shelton, Washington. There, Dorothy, finished high school, was class valedictorian and met the love of her life, Richard ( Dick ) McGee. After high school, Dorothy, attended Edison Technical School in Seattle where she was trained as a seamstress and tailor. In 1942, Dorothy and Dick were married in Shelton. Their first child, Ron was born in 1944 shortly after Dick had left for Europe in the Army Air Corps. The McGee family moved to Port Orchard, Washington after Dick returned from war and their second child, Denise arrived in 1948.
In the early 1950s, for extra income, both Dick and Dorothy started working in the christmas tree industry for Alpine Evergreen every November and December. Dorothy graded the trees and Dick tied them into graded bundles. Dorothy worked as the head grader into the mid 1960s.
As a young mother, Dorothy was always involved in kid related activities. She volunteered at Ron and Denises grade school, was active in PTA, Cub Scouts and Brownies. When Denise started dance classes, Dorothy received a real opportunity to put her seamstress training to work designing and making dance costumes for all the young dancers. It was also during this time frame that that she was introduced to the Rebekah lodge and became a lifelong member of Mystic Rebekah Lodge #168.
In 1958, the McGee family moved to a small farm outside of Port Orchard, the kids got horses and a whole new chapter for the McGees opened up. They became active in the Kitsap Saddle club and then involved with junior rodeo. Dorothy once again put her seamstress skills to work designing and making suits for the junior and senior rodeo courts and then becoming queen mother and chaperone for the rodeo royalty.
The kids were soon young adults, leaving the nest and starting their on families. Dorothy honored both her daughter and daughter-in-law by designing and making custom wedding dresses for them. She also made wedding dresses for several other of her close friends.
With Dick retired and the kids on their own life journeys, Dick and Dorothy found time to indulge themselves. They found great pleasure in traveling with a group of their friends on bus tours throughout the United States. Some trips were as short as two days or some as long as two weeks. In association with the increased time to travel, Dorothy became interested in genealogy and the histories of both her family and Dick's family. She was able to track back a number of family branches to the ancestors that immigrated to America and visit the parts of the country where they settled and raised their families and by this time their was a new generation to add to the family tree. Ron and Denise both had sons that Dorothy adored and loved to spoil as any grandmother does.
Dick and Dorothy were also active members of the Port Orchard United Methodist Church. Dorothy did a great deal of studying of the Bible, loved her Bible study classes and loved teaching those classes.
After the passing of Dick in 2002, Dorothy moved to Ellensburg, Washington to be close to her son. She resided at the Hearthstone Cottage Retirement Facility for the last 12 years making many new friends. Dorothy was preceded in death by her husband, Dick McGee; daughter, Denise Earle; and son-in-law, 'Keener' Earle. She is survived by son and daughter-in-law Ron and Joy McGee of Ellensburg; grandsons Erin McGee of Ellensburg and 'Chuck' Earle of New Brunswick, Canada.
Graveside services will be held at Sunset Lane Memorial Park Cemetery in Port Orchard, WA at 10:30 AM, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Those wishing to honor her memory may contribute to Hospice Friends of Kittitas County or their own local hospice organ